Doctors128 for 4

Western
Donkeys121 for 5

Drizzly conditions, a green wicket and
movement at pace from T Main and A Penwill made life hard for Doctors’
openers John Bishop and Andrew Paisley.After two maiden overs bat finally made contact with ball, the
scoreboard began ticking over and batting suddenly became less
impossible.Bishop (16) hit three
boundaries in quick succession but was then pinned lbw by W.Huxtable and then
Paisley (13) was bowled by S.Roberts (1-11).Alan Dunkley settled in quickly but was unlucky when he was hit on the
pad by B.Curley (1-13).The ball
stayed where it fell and as Dunkley was off balance keeper T.Ford darted
round to collect the ball and effect a stumping.This left Doctors struggling at 37 for 3
off 8 overs.The aesthetically
pleasing partnership of Harry Lee and John Ogle made light of the conditions
but when Lee was caught off Huxtable (2-27) for a well-crafted 26 there was
still much to do.The game-changing innings
came from skipper Sam Powell with a barnstorming 30 (retired) which contained
5 fours and kept the boundary fielders busy.A few more eye-catching strokes from Ogle (14 n.o.) and the customary
destructive cameo by Ed Johnson (11 n.o.) propelled Doctors to a very
respectable total.

A spiteful lifter
from Dunkley (1-23) found the top of A.Allen’s bat and was caught by Ogle at
deep gully and a good containing spell by Phil Barker (1-19) was duly
rewarded by a good catch by Powell at long off to dismiss A.Belcher.Donkeys fought back thanks to an
unflustered innings from J.Ahmed who dealt mercilessly with any bad balls and
received sensible support from Ford.There was another swing of the see-saw when Ahmed (30) retired and
Ford (13) gave Powell the chance show his catching ability again off Lee’s
bowling. Paisley ran out Kevin Court form deep midwicket but this allied Main
(22) and Huxtable who went on the offensive.Doctors’ fielding began to wilt in the dark, slippery conditions and
the visitors were in sight of victory when Lee (2-10) struck again.The bowler had been mildly annoyed to have
a ‘stone dead’ lbw appeal turned down the previous ball and his response was
a very quick yorker which removed Main’s middle stump.Bishop (1-13) bowled Huxtable (15) in the
next over and although Penwill (14 n.o.) kept his side interested the task of
scoring 12 from the final over, bowled by a fired up Powell, was too much.